141 A.D. Mission in Dacia

If only the "acting" wasn't biological waste inside a dumpster fire.

Costumes and props: 12/10!!! Completely on point. Covers a multitude of the deficiencies elsewhere. This aspect of the film does a wonderful job drawing the viewer into the setting. Far better than the vast majority of huge budget blockbusters. Truly impressive!

Natural beauty of filming locations: 10/10. Honestly, this film is worth watching for the beauty alone.

Effective use of natural beauty: 8/10.

Script/dialogue: 6/10. It's a simple film following a simple story. They did a good job in keeping things clear and focused. My Romanian is VERY basic (watched partially as language practice), but I'm pretty confident the awkwardness I discerned in much of the dialogue would be felt by native speakers too. It had that film school project feel to it. Both pedantic yet stilted simultaneously. However I'm also sure this was not helped by the . . .

"Acting": -20/10. Possibly the worst I've ever seen in a film. And I've seen dozens of VERY low-budget movies. "Acting" might say it better than any other words can. But I'll try to capture its essence by damning with a bit of faint praise - the only nice thing I can say about the acting. Two of the actors were convincing as human beings. The rest might as well have been played by 1980's TV robots

It's a real shame they didn't/couldn't get a decent cast together. Good acting and a moderate rewrite to the script could have elevated this so much. I believe those two changes would have been enough to get this work traction in the indie/foreign categories at festivals. And that could have led to Romania getting some positive attention both generally and as a production location.

(I don't mean to offend anyone involved in this film. They put together a wonderful work clearly inspired by passion. But I can't ignore the abysmal acting. A better way to show their commitment to the project would have been to recognize their limits and work as hard as necessary to find actors who could adequately fill the roles.)

One last note: there are significant periods of silence. I loved this aspect of the film because I feel that it helps draw the audience into the setting and helps set the mood. But if you can't stand "slow" movies, then this probably isn't for you

Apart from horrible names and horrible actors. This movie is great to watch with friends and destroy every detail on a fundamental level.

Bad names for stuff like "The death star" or "Snake mountains" sound like they are taken from a DnD campaign.

Good costumes but they are from a separate company so it doesn't count. They must've run out of money to cover up the actor's tattoos with these.

Great landscapes bad movie bad bad movie bad fight scenes bad acting bad music for scenes

for some reason you are able to survive a snake bite by eating plant. Characters are shallow nothing gets you attached to them. Found myself rooting for the death of Centurion.

The english subtitles are just horrible and have no excuse.

But this movie is great for memes. Would've made a GREAT comedy movie.

The plot is bad Minerva is basically the goddess of arts and crafts so that is beyond stupid, Bonus points for colored statues The blood looks like chocolate Dumping dead bodies on the side of the road instead of properly disposing of them.

Too short. Inconclusive

Overall 4/10. Good to get drunk to and watch with friends.

As a Romanian and a history buff I was expecting a lot more from this movie. The trailer looked interesting, sadly the movie is not. Regarding the "fine acting", if you watch this movie (and waste one hour and a half of your life), you will see that actually there are only 2 older guys (look for grey hair) in the movie that are actually actors, the rest act like they are reading from a bloody prompter, I bet even children could act better. The plot is very slow paced, the characters are shallow built and you will watch their silent trek thru our beautiful Romanian scenery. Perhaps the only good thing they got right is the equipment and the costumes worn by the actors, these were provided by a private historical association.

'141 AD Mission in Dacia' is a low-budget independent Romanian production about four Roman soldiers who are dispatched from a plague-ridden fort on the Dacian frontier to travel north into barbarian lands and recover a legendary magical healing herb.

It sure looks like this was a bunch of Roman re-enactors who thought "hey, we've got period clothing, weapons, armor, and props, so let's make a movie!" (which is the kind of production ethos that I totally support). The costumes and equipment on display are top-notch and historically-accurate -- it's always nice to see Romans wearing lorica hamata (that's 'chainmail' for you mundanes) -- and while the actors are clearly amateurs, the deficiencies in their performances are mostly obscured by the fact that they're speaking in Romanian, which, conveniently, operates as creditable stand-in for Latin.

Now, be warned, this is a micro-budget affair, and if that bothers you, then you have to go watch something else. Otherwise, I would only fault the film for being too long for the simple story that unfolds -- the movie has a *lot* of pure filler shots, and is about twice the length that it really should be. That said, this movie is still well-worth 88 minutes of your time.

I've watched this film yesterday, at Cinema Glendale, within the IPIFF festival. I've enjoyed the film a lot, especially its modern aesthetics and visual style as well as its story. In terms of visual style there are realistic elements related to the historical context but also some fantasy elements, like a Dacian plant with almost magical properties and a bright comet, but the realism and the fantastic are so well blended together that you can't tell which is which. What I also liked was the story, which had some Hero's Journey elements within the narrative structure. The film is very realistic in its approach and takes its time to thrill the audience and keep them on the edge of their seats, at least that's what it did with me. One last thing I have to mention is that the production value was so rich: from authentic costumes to buildings, structures, items, weapons, the way the Dacians and Romans fight, everything was so well researched and put together that at some points it felt like a documentary rather than a thriller. A wonderful historical thriller that's a must watch. Great film, great cast, great team!